Your Turn

Updated 4:00 pm, Tuesday, June 4, 2013

In a recent column on climate change, the author intentionally and falsely mischaracterized my comments about uncertainty surrounding factors that cause global warming. The climate is changing and human actions have contributed, but the author's suggestion that the science is settled is simply false. No one knows exactly how much warming can be attributed to human activity versus natural cycles. And no one knows why global temperature has been flat over the past 15 years despite an increase in carbon dioxide emissions over the same period. The uncertainty I mentioned is not about whether warming has occurred but about the factors that cause it.

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The highly regarded National Academy of Sciences' recent review of the Obama administration's draft National Climate Assessment said that “Even with continued advances in climate science, significant uncertainties about these changes will remain.” It went on to say that “it would be helpful to see more explicit discussion of the uncertainties that are inherent in the report's projections of future climatic changes.”

The column's author ominously claims, “We are out of time,” urging President Obama to bypass Congress to take action to curb U.S. emissions. Limiting the scientific debate by saying we know everything we need to know is wrong and dangerous. The earth's climate system is extremely complex and the only thing that is certain is the economic damage of precipitous action.

U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee

The answer

Re: “God's children,” Your Turn, May 29:

Mr. Donagher wrote about gay and transgender individuals, then asked, “What would Jesus do?”

Let me address first the transgender individuals. Actually, these people have not changed genders. The women still have the same female chromosomes as before their sex change operations. The same is true for the men. Their genetic makeup has not changed.

Further, never has a woman who claims she has become a man fathered a child; neither has a former man ever become pregnant. Finally, the man still has an Adam's apple, and the woman does not.

As for the question, “What would Jesus do?” The answer is given in John 8:3-11. Jesus told this woman who had been caught in sexual sin, “Go, from now on sin no more.” God condemns both homosexual and heterosexual sin.

After watching the Spurs play against the Grizzlies, I'm so proud of their ability to work in tandem. I sense that the players really care about one another and that each game won is for each player, not just for one individual ego.

I am not an avid sports fan, but I prayed that they would advance into the finals and win the championship.

It has been awhile, but I feel that out of all the teams, they are the most deserving because of their camaraderie.

When I watch the Miami Heat, I do not sense the spiritual element that I feel when I watch the Spurs. There is a sweetness in their faces that shines through their playing.

One only has to look at the contrast between the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and our own Capitol building in Austin to see the negative impact when commercialism is allowed to overrun beauty and principle.

In D.C., only the Washington Monument, flanking the end of the mall, stands taller than the Capitol building, which can be viewed from all over the city.

In sharp, sad contrast, our own Texas capitol in Austin has been engulfed by high rise banks and commercial buildings. It is now barely visible — perhaps a fitting symbol of Texas' Legislature's sellout to business interests and profiteering.

Will the Alamo fall again to such interests? Many visitors, especially those coming from other countries, are perplexed at what surrounds the Alamo, which is historically Texas' No. 1 tourist attraction. Our city leaders want to further engulf the shrine of Texas liberty with another high-rise hotel?

While I do not support drunk driving, I cannot find a logical reason why a person who had an alcohol level of 0.08, the precise legal limit, and who caused an accident that did not harm any people other than his family, should get 30 years in jail. This is not justice.

It is when someone receives a sentence like this, the taxpayers, who pay the price to incarcerate people, should take notice. This man will never get over what was done to his family.

Would it not have been more humane to maybe put him on an electronic monitoring device, for which he would pay the cost, and have him do presentations on the perils of drunk driving? He could also pay a fine to the state.

I am sure there are other creative things that could be done other than 30 years in jail at the taxpayer's expense.

We are spending too much money on incarceration for crimes wherein bodily harm is not done to others.

At the rate we are going, in 50 years there will not be anyone without a prison record.

E.F. "Smiley" Williams

Aquifer levels

We should be happy, but not fooled by the recent increases in the aquifer levels.

As we approach our summer season, we need to be conserving even more, for when the temps go up, the aquifer goes down even quicker.

I am suggesting to the deciding powers at SAWS to refrain from lowering any restrictions whether the aquifer levels are high enough to do so or not.